Over the course of three months, millionaires bought apartments in Moscow for a total sum of 241.4 million dollars.

For the first three months of 2014, 123 units of elite real estate (apartments and condominiums) were sold on the primary market in the Central Administrative District (CAD), which is 1.6% lower than the figures for the same period in 2013 (125 properties), according to analysts at Contact Real Estate.

According to their data, the total value of properties sold in the first quarter of 2014 amounted to approximately $241.5 million, which is 1% lower than the figures for the same period in the previous year. The area of properties sold was 17,000 square meters, which is 6% higher than the figures for the same period in 2013, experts believe.

The most expensive apartments sold in the first quarter of this year were:

 1.     "N. Arbat 32," 415.8 square meters - $9.521 million.

2.     "Bulgakov," 194 square meters - $6.079 million.

3.     "Afanasevsky," 183.7 square meters - $5.127 million.

4.     "Eropkinsky," 194.8 square meters - $5.064 million.

5.     "Bulgakov," 148.7 square meters - $4.505 million.

 

According to the experts of the company, Roman Popov, the head of the Strategic Consulting Department at Kalinka Real Estate Consulting Group, agrees with. According to him, deal budgets were mostly in the range of up to $6-7 million, with maximum deals recorded up to $10 million.

"Negative factors such as the devaluation of the ruble, concerns about the economic situation, and the Crimean crisis influence the demand for luxury new buildings in the center of Moscow. At the same time, the depreciation of the ruble in some cases contributed to buyer activity in the traditionally sluggish month of January for the luxury market – realtors recorded an average 50% increase in the number of calls and applications. Clients tried to preserve their ruble savings and invest them in liquid real estate," believes Denis Popov, Managing Partner of Contact Real Estate.

According to the results of Q1 2014, the supply volume on the primary market in the Central Administrative District (CAD) increased by 9.8% compared to the beginning of the year and amounted to 206 thousand square meters or 1,391 units (apartments and apartments). Contact Real Estate analysts note that the largest share of sales (58%) was in the Hamovniki district, once again confirming the district's leadership position. However, the official entry into the market of a large project in the Presnensky district is expected in the near future, which may significantly reduce the average price of new buildings in the CAD due to a large volume of relatively inexpensive supply. At the moment, open primary sales are conducted in 41 residential complexes, but most of the projects have already been built, and only a few offers remain there.

As noted by Roman Popov, the head of the Strategic Consulting Department at Kalinka Real Estate Consulting Group, predominantly, prices in the new build market of the elite segment of Moscow were nominated in USD, which were tied to the dollar. Many price tags were fixed at the developer's own exchange rate, rather than the rate of the Bank of Russia. Due to changes in the currency market during this period, the cost of a square meter of luxury housing increased, but by no more than 2%, while some clients were able to negotiate discounts on some objects. Thus, price changes occurred within the margin of error.

In the previous quarter, we saw that changes in the currency market only led to an attempt by citizens to preserve their funds through real estate investments. In the next quarter, we do not expect price drops. Unless we consider extreme scenarios, in the next six months to a year, competition in the primary elite real estate market will only strengthen, which will restrain price growth. And volatility in the financial and political spheres currently only plays into the hands of the Moscow real estate market," the expert predicts.

Olya Tarakanova, Head of the Urban Sales Department at the Residential Real Estate Department of Knight Frank, agrees with him. "The unstable situation in the banking sector that developed at the end of last year, together with the weakening ruble, partly contributed to the increased interest of buyers in real estate as a stable asset for investment," she says.

http://realty.rbc.ru/articles/01/04/2014/562949991020826.shtml